Mirrors and Reflections

Leses

Lises

“No life is greater than any other. No matter how ‘real’ or how ‘fake’, everything fights for its existence. That should be respected.”“Why is it so hard for you to trust?”“I’m glad to see you’re back. Perhaps once again you can help the family.”“Sometimes you must slay a spider to save a butterfly”

Appearance

Lises is tall and well built, with shoulder length strait blonde hair and blue eyes. A trim blonde beard around his chin. He wears simple clothes, and fancies old English attire, often sporting a white button-down under a black long coat. His eyes show compassion or stubbornness, rarely anything in between.

Character model: Hohenheim Elric (From fullmetal alchemist)

Background

Lises is the eldest son of Elmdor, older brother of Terridus. Before he and his brother walked the pattern, they got along perfectly. Lises seemed to have disdain for the creatures of shadow, and the Amberites not in his immediate family, like they weren’t part of his life. Just as Terridus changed after is walk through the pattern, so did Lises. He walked off on his own, disappearing for over a decade. When he returned, his demeanor toward the shadows had polarized. He was an avid voice for the lives and well being of the shadow creatures. At first, he tried to reconnect with Terridus, but the distance had grown. Lises grew bitter at Terridus, a feeling that only grew with time.

Lises became a wanderer of the shadow, a watcher. He would return to the golden circle after months if not years, eager to tell tales of the things he had seen. He grew stubborn, despising death and wanton murder. His stance on it was complicated, and somewhat hypocritical, as he often himself killed those he decided could not be left alone. He refers to a place he calls his ‘Garden’ as a place he stays when he is away.

The Blood of Amber

The start of the war for Lises was a single event deep in shadow. Thorn laid a trap to gain his attention. It set the gears turning, and sent him back to Amber. When he returned to the golden circle, he found it torn in war. He soon found himself entangled in it, following James through the golden circle, fighting back the mysterious forces. When it seemed the enemy was forced out, he returned to the castle.

At the castle he ran across Schala, whom he hadn’t seen in nearly 60 years. She recruited him to chase down the ringleader. With a third cousin, Serpentis, they followed Renee to where Thorn had supposedly escaped to. It was a trap by Renee, however, to keep them far out of the reach of the war. Schala parted, desperate on her own errand, while Lises and Serpentis returned to Amber in roughly 8 hours, despite Renee’s claim of it taking 50 years.

When Lises returned to the castle, he quickly informed Oberon of Renee’s intent. On his way towards the battlefield, he ran across Talwyn and Viola. Lises rescued Viola from Talwyn, dropped her off in the med center, and continued to the war front. When he arrived, he saw that he would not be able to stop the war. Frustrated by his own weakness, he left the fight to it’s own devices, disappearing and not contacting other Amberites since.

Oncoming Storm

Lises arrived at the following Feast of the Unicorn, with a wife and daughter in tow, to the surprise of many. His daughter, Lilu, behaved well at the feast, likely told to be on her best. After the feast Lises joined with Schala and Terridus in an attempt to find and cure Virgil. The three traveled to Avalon, bypassing a large contingency of Amberites presumably with the same objective. After a brief fight with one of many Gerards, they found Virgil. They brought him to Terridus’ kaleidoscope, his new toy in Tenebrae. Word is they succeeded, however word also is that they found more than they sought.

The three’s next objective was Renee. They headed to The Rock, and found Renee there. A large force of giant sea-turtles could be seen as they once again, passed Amberites towards their goal. They returned to The Kaleidoscope, and presumably failed, once again biting more than they could chew. They returned to Amber afterwards, right into Oberon and Rajani’s fight. Lises tried to convince them to pull out their forces, but was responded from Oberon by a simple FLYINGELBOWOFJUSTICE. Lises was teleported by Garrick to the Rock, where he overheard a disturbing conversation between Annalee and Virgil. Surely, he would pursue that further. Once his neck was straight again.

The Open Door

After the years had passed, Lises finished off his plans with Schala to attempt to restore Virgil. They gathered Serpentis and Annalee, but Schala became comatose after trying to help a broken Corwin. The three of them traveled to Virgil, who waited atop Chronos. After a brief scuffle, they managed to pierce his mind and force him to walk the pattern, restoring his condition.

After this, he learned that his brother was heading off to Chaos, to find Renee and restore her once and for all. However, with Schala’s help he also figured that Terridus would ignore his warnings about Bridgette and Talwyn, so the two of them moved to prevent the problems that may have occurred because of that. Many of the family had gathered there, by chance or by fate, and when all was said and done the simulacrum of Talwyn was destroyed, Bridgette was badly wounded, and Renee was restored to her previous mindset.

Shortly after that affair was concluded, Lises was contacted by Virgil, and asked to help return Gerard, Dagonet and the real Talwyn. The party he assembled traveled to Cronos, and fought an army of simulacrums, and after a hard fought victory returned to Amber with their objectives in tow. Lises found out they restored Dagonet back to life afterwards, much to his dismay.

Then Razgriz showed up in the Golden Circle. A group was mustered to fight it, Lises was excluded, instead staying in Arden and keeping an eye out for problems that may appear. When the beast was defeated, he received a trump from Annalee that she would be heading to Avalon. When Graham, who was with her, started saying that she was stuck on Chronos against her will (or so Lises put together), he gathered a group to find her and deal with Chronos once and for all. However, this was all part of Lucky’s plan, and triggered his taking of several of the Shadows within the Golden Circle, and Graham with them.

Shadowfall

Lises tried to connect to those who had been taken outside of shadow with Chronos, but to no avail. He then decided to watch this side of the world, and do what he could. His first stop was to visit Jotenhiem, and question Winter on his murder attempt of Renee. Lises found Winter to be a problem, but one that would have to wait, his attempt to consume shadow would take far too long to be of worry immediately.

He then returned to Amber, to hear Oberon’s speech. His compliment was completely unexpected, as well as his act to banish Terridus. After a brief heart-to-heart with Terridus, Lises returned to his Garden, and took an eye to events. He was shortly after visited by Schala, who asked if she could use the garden as ground for an assassination attempt against her father. Lises wasn’t surprised, and allowed them to use his home, but said he wouldn’t intervene. Lises knew of the least of Cain’s sins, and would not miss the life of such a being. Virgil brought Cain, and Schala and Relda slew him there. Schala was horribly injured, and Lises patched her up, and watched over as Relda left with Virgil. He knew what they were going to create, and could not help but wonder how such a sword would affect the world.

Virgil came to Lises again, as the world was collapsing. He seemed changed, like a man who had grown tired of fighting, and wanted to rest. He took Lises to Aquila, and spoke with the Eagle. Though they spoke cryptically, Lises understood. He realized everything, who their enemies and allies were, and what the point of all the lives he had seen were. Perhaps he then changed too, knowledge is a terrible thing.

Items of power

Dream: Dream is Lises’ walking staff, and his travelling companion. Lises has not been seen wielding it since Renee’s Rebellion. He has taken her as his wife, and seldom uses her in fights anymore. Though, she is often with him as he travels.

The Hands of Benevolence: Lises’ new weapon of choice, the adaptable and effective Hands of Benevolence is as straightforward as Lises himself. With a variety of forms, from chic metallic wings to large fists long enough to drag upon the ground, it seems the weapon is better for subduing rather than killing, but Lises’ natural strength makes it deadly in his hands.

The Book of Worlds The host of Lises’ created Trump technique, The Book hosts thousands of trumps of the shadows he has visited, granting him some surveying capability and transportation within those worlds.